Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wednesday TV/Media News And Notes

Well, another day and another big change. After working on the Kurt Busch story and then watching his public relations campaign across TV, radio and the Internet on Monday things got even more interesting on Tuesday.

AP reporter Jenna Fryer reported and later Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed that Mike Ford will not be returning as Denny Hamlin's crew chief. With Steve Addington and Busch in the mix, this leaves one driver and two crew chief openings on two top Sprint Cup Series teams.

SPEED scrambled to put together a thirty minute version of an updated NASCAR TV show Monday night. Under the SpeedCenter banner, Steve Byrnes and Adam Alexander checked-in with Busch himself, Kyle Petty, Bob Dillner and SPEEDtv.com's Tom Jensen. It was a fast-paced show that offered lots of perspectives.

Our post titled Dear NASCAR TV: You Left Us Too Soon seemed to make even more sense as this week has unfolded. Perhaps SPEED will decide to get busy and get a regular show on the air keeping NASCAR fans in the mix. It really cannot come too soon.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch a relaxed Jimmie Johnson appeared on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Click here for a video of his appearance. Johnson went to school on Jeff Gordon's entertainment TV appearances and has mastered the art of being a guest. The appearance was to promote his original video game for the Wii platform.

For those of you missing Danica in the off-season, Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons sent along the photo above of the Super Bowl ad shoot Go Daddy just completed. Parsons said he was also revealing the picture of his newest Go Daddy girl. Shortly after, both the tweet and the picture were deleted. Needless to say, not quite fast enough.

Here is Parsons talking about the two new Go Daddy Super Bowl commercials, both featuring Danica.

"After seven years, we have a good idea about what we can do that works for us and still be approved by censors – we know how to take it right to the very edge,” said Parsons. "Critics have suggested we submit ads solely to be rejected, but we don’t, we submit concepts that are fun, edgy and slightly inappropriate. That’s GoDaddy-esque and that’s what drives viewers to GoDaddy.com year after year after year."

What has changed for Go Daddy is that Danica is now a full time Nationwide Series driver and will also race in select Sprint Cup Series events starting with the Daytona 500. It should be interesting to see just how the NASCAR fan base reacts to her exposure and how she is treated on the air by SPEED, ESPN and FOX in February.

In the land of the DVR, ESPN2 has two mid-afternoon wrap-up shows they have to air as part of the NASCAR TV contract. Thursday at 3PM ET will be the season in review for the Nationwide Series and Friday at the same time on the same network it will be the Sprint Cup Series wrap-up. Normally, this is a NASCAR Media Group production so expect some good editing and dramatic narration.

The big racing event of the past weekend was the Snowball Derby from Pensacola, FL. Bob Dillner and his Speed51.com production team did the radio broadcast of the big late model race that featured familiar names like David Ragan, Steven Wallace and Johanna Long. Former Sprint Cup Series driver Bill Elliott's son Chase won the race at the ripe old age of 16.

The interesting development is that for many years this annual event has been trying to get a TV deal with SPEED. Immediately after the event, Darrell Waltrip sent along a tweet that said he would like to see this race live on SPEED in 2012. That means a lot and we will keep an eye on what happens down the road.

In a follow-up to the earlier TDP column about NASCAR TV, the Mike Ford move and the other pending big stories in the sport are adding to the push to get some NASCAR TV news coverage back on the air. In today's non-stop social media world, simply ending TV coverage of a sport going full-bore in December is not working.

It will be interesting to see if NASCAR.com, the Rowdy.com boys or even a local Charlotte area TV station steps-up and creates a video blog of NASCAR news to bridge the gap. It just might be a project that brings a strong return on the initial investment in terms of exposure, ad revenue and site traffic.

Finally, here is a little scoop from SPEED about an upcoming series relating to the Hall of Fame inductees.

The NASCAR Media Group and SPEED announce that a biography series of all five 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees will air on the network beginning this Friday, Dec. 9 with back-to-back shows featuring Cale Yarborough at 8 p.m. ET and Dale Inman at 9 p.m. ET.

The remaining biographies, also produced by NASCAR Media Group, will air on SPEED throughout December and January 2012: Richie Evans on Friday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. ET; Darrell Waltrip on Friday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET and Glen Wood on Friday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET.

There you have it, the TV and media notes so far this week. We will be adding any new information to this post, so check back with us please. It certainly has been an off-season to remember.

To add your opinion on any of the topics mentioned above, just click on the comments button below. We do not allow profanity, hateful speech or links posted in this section. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

24 comments:

I just watched Jimmie's segment on Colbert Report on my DVR. I thought he came across great and was a good representative for our sport. Colbert asked some good questions, but followed them up with another "do you guys pee in your cars" question. But still, it was a good interview.

Sorry no interest in how nearly naked Danica or any of the other Go Daddy girls get in the stupid commercials. All that is so insulting to women. If Danica wants to be taken seriously in NASCAR, she needs to keep more of her clothes on and let her results do the talking - IMO. Now if it were Jeff or Carl, I might be more interested. Shallow, I know, but true.

Missed Johnson on Colbert but is anyone surprised by the stupid question about peeing in the car? I'm not.

Strange post season for sure - drivers and crew chiefs up for grabs. Maybe darien will go to Hamlin's team - but if he thought Tony was tough on the radio, Hamlin's know joy and he throws his crew chief and team under the bus as quick as anyone I've ever seen.

Hey JD, don't forget about the rumor of Smoke wanting Zippy as competition director at SHR. What Tony wants, Tony usually gets. Oh, and the Home Depot sponsorship will fit in nicely with the other Depot.

Tony probably has more clout than anyone in the garage area right now. Successful car owner in Cup is difficult enough, but to also drive one of your own cars, and win the title, all at the same time? Sheesh.

Sorry, Joey, but I think Logano deserves a full-time shot at the Nationwide championship anyway.

There has been no better time for an off-season NASCAR show with all that's going on.

It's usually other women that are scantily dressed in those Go-Daddy commercials instead of DP. I don't particularly like them, but presume they are paying a lot of money for the sponsorship. And it seems to me lots of changes with the crew chiefs for 2012. I couldn't wait for the season to end, but now I'm really curious how it's all going to play out in February!

clearly Go Daddy is looking for a particular audience. It's not me, but I don't really care if they want to try that appeal, I don't feel insulted. IMHO...freedom means people are free to show themselves that way, well, knock yourselves out if that's what you want to do.

This might be one of the more interesting....errrr....'fascinating' off seasons. Usually this stuff all seems to unfold in the summer/early fall.

Mr Editor -interesting ...err, fascinating that @anon10:25 throws out 'original', but doesn't have the respect to identify with a blue-line address ...TDP is my go-to site for NASCAR news ...yes, @Gina 24, crew chief and other changes making me, too, looking forward to 2012 kickoff ...come on SPEED, get with it on a weekly show ...lots of news breaking almost everyday it seemsWalter

Yes, Gina, that is shallow, but please know I am not interested in a nearly naked Danica either absent some specific cosmetic enhancments and that makes me even more shallow....

The news that the Snowball Derby might get some TV attention pleases me even if the word comes from DW. It is usually a really good little race and the track is good, too. We have raced our cars there many many times. Along that line I lovuld love to see more broadcasts of local track racing as there are lots of good ones all over, but I understand the issues of sponsorship and expense.

As to GoDaddy what I am curious about is whether the advertising campaign is efficacious. Does it actually result in subscribers? What, if it does, is the demo it attracts or is the campaign a really kind of lame (and shallow) excuse for Bob Parsons to hang out with chicks half his age? I could probably research this subject, but I am far too lazy. ;-)

AR, I'm pretty sure that I've read that GD and Parsons consider their sponsorship hugely effective. I'm assuming they're looking for the young male 18-30...gamers...sports fans...that sort. I would think they'd be most likely to be looking for domains, either for business or hobbies. Parsons considers his campaign as "fun, edgy, and a bit inappropriate".

Wasn't it Michael Waltrip who made a comment about that (peeing) years ago that started it all? Something on Inside Winston Cup or an interview? It isn't something I personally remember, just thought I remembered reading comments about it. But yes, I imagine recent interest is probably about that Harvick ad (which, I have no idea why they want to dwell on something that stupid....)

I haven't seen a girl with words written all over her body since Goldie Hawn, et al on Laugh-In!

I have to agree with AR. Danica does have a bit of a "boyish" physique; she'd probably make a good swimmer. Yup, I'm shallow too.

OK, she and Mark Martin will be splitting the Cup duties in the #10 SHR car. Will GoDaddy continue to sponsor Mark as well?

I'd also like to know why we haven't seen a scantily-clad Mark Martin in one of the GoDaddy commercials? What's up with that?

The two good things about Mark and Danica both having the same ride and sponsor is (a) the teams won't have to re wrap the car, and change or adjust the seat, and (b) both Danica and Mark can share the same driving suits.

As far as tv coverage next year, I think Danica will get the standard Junior TV coverage package, especially while she is part-time, and still more of a novelty.

We'll see every pit stop she makes, in car cameras, radio chatter, and post-race interview, regardless of her finish.

And, oh my goodness, if she starts getting top 5s or top 10s, Danica mania is back!

Dot is right regarding peeing in the car. I ride motorcycles and the evaporation from sweating and exposure to wind keeps me dehydrated and rather than stopping to go to the bathroom, I stop to get something to drink. Being an older old f*rt, I go often when I'm sitting around home but I can go almost all day without needing to go when I am riding.

Also, being an older race fan, scantily clad girls younger than my daughters prancing around does not make me want to have anything to do with the folks who are using them as a marketing tool.

LOL, well, I don't care if it's a nearly naked Danica (with or w/o the enhancements that AR wants) or some other nameless chick, I simply don't watch their ads. As soon as the commercial begins, I switch the channel - so as far as attracting attention, they don't have mine, but then I'm most likely not the demographic they are trying to attract.

I'll plan to watch the Snowball Derby - one of the things I've missed most on Speed is -- racing. I usually have to tune to Versus for that.

And just like the decision that Speed has made to not keep up with the news situation during the off season, not showing racing programming on speed - esp during the off season, seems like a dumb one to me.

Gina - I have to agree, but I'm sure Arlene wouldn't mind. At least he keeps himself in great shape--probably less disgusting than Tony Stewart, or worse yet--ME.

And I hope the peeing discussion is winding down, but here's my 2¢:

You know these drivers sweat their brains out during the race, and they compensate by guzzling fluids like crazy, even when they're not thirsty. Add to that some long caution periods, and/or a cooler than expected day or evening, and their body isn't capable of sweating it all out.

There was an extremely humorous moment during the "After the Lap" show involving Brad K needing to pee during the victory lap at the Vegas awards week.

With all the moving and shaking this week, one of the networks should realize that, just like all the stick and ball sports, racing news doesn't end with the season. But, as I've said before, they seem to think that race fans can't abandon the sport fast enough once a champ has been crowned. I guess they don't think we're important enough to try to keep the interest up until Daytona. What marketing genius made that decision? It only makes sense to me to try to keep people's interest going thru the 'off' season. But, what do I know? I'm just one of the people they are depending on to keep their ratings up.